The Indiana Hoosiers enter spring break on a high note as they wrapped up their first full-padded practice (fourth overall). While Hoosier Huddle was not at the practice, IUHoosiers.com talked to head coach Tom Allen about how he feels after the first four practices.

The Hoosiers were back on the practice field on a day that felt more suited for skiing than spring football. However, it was toasty inside the Mellencamp Pavilion as the Hoosiers put on the shoulder pads for the first time this spring. Here are my observations as well as quotes from players and coaches.

Hoosier Huddle’s final positional preview for spring practice will focus on the special teams unit. The Hoosiers return second-team All-Big Ten kicker Logan Justus and punter Haydon Whitehead, but will have to replace an All-American in long snapper Dan Godsil and honorable mention All-Big Ten punt returner J-Shun Harris. There were plenty of weaknesses the Hoosiers have to address on this unit as well as IU struggled on kickoff coverage and kickoff returns. IU will get long snapper Sean Wracher in the fall, a top recruit at that position. Other than punter though, it’s an open competition.

While the efficiency numbers were not great, the Indiana defense boasted a respectable secondary in 2019. The Hoosiers thrived off of creating turnovers. Indiana tied for 33rd in the country with 13 team interceptions and they tied for fifth in the country in fumble recoveries with 13. With the departure of Hoosier safety Jonathan Crawford, Indiana has big shoes to fill. Luckily, there are a number of players capable of stepping up to the plate. IU's secondary will still be young next fall, but they will have the luxury of depth. Heading into spring, the IU defensive backs appears to be one of the most talented position groups on the roster. Indiana will return several starters from last year, and Tom Allen and his staff have recruited cornerbacks and safeties very well the past few years. While it is yet to be seen which individuals will produce most, the secondary will be among Indiana's strongest units in 2019.

Hoosier Huddle continues its Spring Preview series today by focusing on the big fellas upfront on the defensive line. The defensive line sometimes goes unrecognized unless there is a sack or tackle for loss, but the biggest contribution that they can make may be to occupy the offensive line and allow the IU linebackers to run around and make plays. The Hoosiers lose some pieces up from in Jacob Robinson, Mike Barwick Jr. Nile Sykes, Kayton Samuels and Jamerez Bowen. So it’ll be up to the next group of seniors and underclassmen to improve upon last year’s performance. Defensive line coach Mark Hagen has done a tremendous job piecing together the line over the last three seasons. While the waters may be murky on who lines up where, fans can trust that Hagen will get the most out of his guys.

Spring practice is set to begin soon and Hoosier Huddle is previewing the upcoming camp with positional breakdowns and much more. Today’s preview is a look at the middle of Indiana’s 4-2-5 defense, the linebackers. We’ll start with a brief profile of each player in the position group, proceed with a few things we’ll be looking for in the spring and then wrap up with a projection of the depth chart for the 2019 season.

The tight end position has been talked about a lot over the past few seasons with the Hoosiers. Kevin Wilson’s offense under-utilized the position to the point of non-existence on the stat sheet and Mike DeBord’s offense used the position more, but still left a lot to be desired. So can the new offensive coordinator figure out how to utilize a position that the Hoosiers have both depth and talent? We’ll see soon enough. The Hoosiers do lose Ryan Watercutter to graduation as well as Austin Dorris who transferred to Bowling Green. The Hoosiers do have two young tight ends who project to be very good in TJ Ivy and Matt Bjorson, then Gary Cooper will join the team over the summer as a true freshman.

We are under two months away from the Indiana Football spring game and just a week away from the first spring practice. It is time for Hoosier Huddle’s preview coverage to ramp up after a couple month break following the season-ending loss to Purdue.

With a new offensive coordinator in town, the expectations are already heightened for Indiana’s 2019 offense. But no matter how good Kalen DeBoer is, games are won in the trenches. After losing Wes Martin, Brandon Knight, and Nick Linder to graduation, Indiana will be looking to these players to open up holes for the running game and protect the winner of the starting quarterback job.